In the field of network computing, multiple computers or systems may be designed to work as a group to provide functionality and redundancy for a distributed network application or environment. A distributed network environment generally refers to an environment where multiple computers share information amongst each other through a network communication mechanism. Typical network communication mechanisms include transport control protocol (TCP) Internet protocol (IP) networks, and session initiation protocol (SIP) networks. Other transport protocols also exist. In general, transport protocols define a standard for how different systems communicate with each other over the physical (e.g., wired networks or wireless transport) layer of the network. Other communication protocols (e.g., hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), etc.) also exist at an application layer, to define how client applications and server applications communicate with each other. This application layer is generally a layer above the physical communication transport layer in accordance with the open systems interconnect (OSI) network model. By “connecting” different computer systems together those computer systems (and applications executing on them) may work together to execute different functional components of a distributed network application (e.g., distributed application). That is, in a distributed application, different computer systems may provide different types of functionality for the overall application or may serve as redundant components for a given functional component.
A Switching loop or bridge loop occurs in computer networks when there is more than one Layer 2 (based on the open systems interconnect (OSI) model) path between two endpoints (e.g., multiple connections between two network switches or two ports on the same switch connected to each other). The loop, if not properly detected and disabled (e.g., by disabling an incorrectly connected port), creates broadcast storms on the computer network. This is because broadcasts and muiticasts are, by default, forwarded by switches out every port. The switch or switches will repeatedly rebroadcast the broadcast messages flooding the network. Also, because the Layer 2 header does not support a time to live (TTL) value, if a frame is sent into a looped topology, it can loop forever (or until the loop is detected and disabled). A physical topology that contains switching or bridge loops may be attractive for redundancy reasons, yet a switched network must not have loops. One solution to allow for physical topology redundancy is to allow physical loops but create a loop-free logical topology using the shortest path bridging (SPB) protocol or the spanning tree protocols (STP) on the network switches. In cases where the logical topology is violated, or a physical connection is made incorrectly, an undesired network loop may be inadvertently created and cause issues on the computer network.